Chapter Text
It's Christmas Eve.
After all that has happened, they have tried to move on. Hawkins is still split, but there's nothing they can do. Crimson trenches still seep in the ground in and around Hawkins, their color slightly fading over time.
The whole group thinks Vecna is gone, but only for so long. He hasn't attacked since, radio silence from the Upside Down since spring break. The group believes he's preparing himself for a final battle, something they haven't thought of yet. Something they weren't ready for. But now that they were all together again, they plan to do something soon. But now wasn't the time.
Steve is at the Henderson's house, celebrating a mix of Hanukkah and Christmas.
His parents have decided to not come back. Ever. They had called after the split of Hawkins and told Steve that they would leave him the house. They would stay in their summer home in the Hamptons on Long Island. Somewhere in Montauk in the rich part, a house that Steve had visited when he was in diapers. A house that was as cold and big as the one he was now left with.
It didn't surprise him too much, they hadn't stayed in their home for more than a month since the first weird events happened in the small town. Steve wasn't the son they were particularly proud of either, so there was no reason for them to come back. They told him that they would sign the deed over to him. The house was already paid off of course, the family was rich after all. Steve would just have to pay for electric and all that, his parents believe it would be good for him. Something to plant his feet in for once in his life so that he could try and actually be something, something they said but not in those exact words. None of this bothered him at the time but it did come to him all at once after a few days of thinking about the call nonstop.
To get away from his broken home, now permanently empty, he had a breakdown and slept over Dustin's house around two days ago. He's been there since.
Why were they celebrating Christmas and Hanukkah?
Claudia was raised jewish. Walter's christian roots put a halt on the traditions that Claudia had loved to enjoy with her family. When Dustin was around five, Walter left. It's unknown whether it was his gambling addiction, the affair with his accounting assistant, or his unwillingness to raise a child like Dustin. She did what she could with him to keep him happy as a single mom and tried to give him everything Walter couldn't. But now, Dustin enjoyed both holidays so she had decided years ago to celebrate both to keep her little boy happy.
It was Christmas Eve and Hanukkah had already ended anyway. Claudia had just kept the menorah out and made challah.
Steve was slumped on the couch, sewing up a popcorn garland, something his mother had taught him. He tried not to think of his parents but it was inevitable at a point, especially on a holiday like this one. He was wearing a black sweater with a kitten inside a stocking, something that Claudia gave him to wear to give him some holiday spirit. It was cute, but the scratchy material and plastic sequins sewn into the design were starting to irritate him.
Dustin was shaking the wrapped boxes under the tree when his mother wasn't looking while she baked gingerbread men. He was wearing a knitted cardigan with a snoopy design that met in the front with a single button and a star wars shirt peeking from under it. It was slightly big on him and Steve had teased him about it when he first saw him wearing it.
"Dude, it's not fun to open your gifts when you already know what it is." Steve groaned to Dustin.
The sequins were really bothering him and he was getting irritated. The room was warm, the only lights being the tree, the television, and the fireplace. With the exception of the bright light in the kitchen. Dustin glared at Steve across the room and hissed.
"Shut up, I'm getting impatient with how much food my Moms cooking. At this rate, we'll be eating until the morning and Santa will join us."
"Aren't you too old to believe in Santa Claus?"
"No but don't tell my Mom that,"
Claudia looked out from the kitchen and smiled at the boys, wiping her hands on the red and green flannel apron she was wearing.
"You boys ready to eat?" she smiled.
Steve wish he could remember a time his mother looked like this. A time where his parents were home for the holiday. They were always in New York City or Las Vegas or Miami or some other great big city in the world. Anywhere but at their home, with their only son.
"Finally, yes, I'm starving," Dustin huffs before getting up and sitting down at the dining table.
With the collection of plates at the table by Claudia, Steve jumps up from his chair and gently takes the empty plates from her hands.
"Oh Steve, you don't have to do that, you're a guest!" Claudia smiles at him, you can tell she doesn't really want to do the dishes.
"No no, let me do them for you. It's the least I can do after you made all this great food, like really Ms Henderson, it was amazing,"
Steve might've been overselling her cooking but he was genuinely grateful. She had let him, an adult man, sleep at her house like a teen boy after he couldn't bare to be in his own house all alone.
She did more for him than she understands.
"Steve, you're such a doll. Anyone would be lucky to call you their husband in the future,"
Steve thought of her choice words for a second.
"Well, I'm gonna go to bed. All of this cooking made me tired. See you tomorrow morning honey, good night."
Claudia walked away, dragging her feet a bit.
Steve continued where she left off and collected all the dishes into one stack then placed them in the sink. He then cleaned off the dining table with spray and a paper towel before he started cleaning the dishes. Going through the dishes, he separated the utensils and started on them first with a yellow sponge and running hot water.
After a while, he was done placing the clean dishes on the drying rack. His eyes were droopy, fighting to close. Looking at the time, it was 11:56pm. It was quiet in the home, the only sounds present were Claudia's snoring and the windy snowstorm outside. The only light on now was the tree, glowing colorfully in the dark ambiance of the living room. Presents for Dustin were wrapped nicely under the tree, a few big ones and mostly medium or small ones with little bows.
Steve had gotten gifts for Dustin as well as Claudia, they were like family to him after all. He looked over to the couch where he was before and the popcorn garland laid limp on the arm. It wasn't a big deal, it made him feel sad anyway.
Rubbing his eyes with the tips of his fingers, he blindly walked to the bathroom down the hall. Dragging his feet on the carpet floors, he was ready to flop down on the guest room's bed that he had been sleeping on. Flicking on the bathroom light, he closed the door and stood at the sink. Looking at himself, he felt like laughing.
The years had taken a toll on him with the dark circles under his eyes, the scar on his lip, his vision being horrid, and that scar.
It wasn't his only scar but it was the easiest one to see. The one around his neck from the demobats back in April, the demobats... that killed Eddie.
Since that night, Steve hadn't known what to do with himself. None of the group did.
What had hit the kids so hard was how young Eddie was and how long he had been in their crazy events. Others had died, yes, but none of them like Eddie. Someone who hadn't deserved it at all, someone who was accused of murder and in return, got eaten up in another world. Steve thought he finally made a good guy friend that was actually his age for once but that had only gone on for so long.
The memories still haunted Steve. That night was one of the worst in his past three years of nonstop torment from the upside down. Of all the people they've lost in the past, Eddie was the one he hung out with the most. Talking to him for hours in the upside down, when they stole that trailer, the talk they had before the great battle, and unsaid words right before it. He had caught Eddie's eye, and Steve was unsure how.
Robin would throw a few words here and there about Eddie, what seemed like an effort to try and get Steve to like him. Steve had noticed how quickly Robin took to the long haired guy, something that he didn't care to ask about or have the time to when he was around. Sometimes he would catch Robin and Eddie whispering and stealing glances of Steve. Eddie was mostly the one he had caught staring at him, something that had gone on since high school. Those dark brown doe eyes behind that mop of curly brown hair, always staring intently during his senior gym class or sophomore year science.
Steve's head started to hurt when he pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes closed. Clutching the porcelain sink tightly, he could feel his body getting weak.
Something told him to open his eyes in his head, so he did. The lights started flickering in the bathroom.
At first it seemed sporadic, like there wasn't a rhythm or it was some kind of malfunction of the old electricity.
Staring at the light above the sink, he realized.
Flicker. Flicker. Flicker.
Flicker, pause. Flicker, pause. Flicker, pause.
Flicker. Flicker. Flicker.
Morse code?
Morse code.
Morse code for sos.
Eddie.
"Dustin! Wake up! Dustin!"
Steve yelped from the bathroom, he didn't dare move, he knew he saw it.
His voice had turned hoarse, scared, panicked. He was praying he wasn't seeing things but the light kept repeating the same rhythm that Eddie had showed them.
Dustin slowly came into the door frame and pushed the door open. He rubbed his eyes and yawned.
"What Steve? Can you chill out? My mom-"
He stopped when he saw the lights flickering and squinted his eyes before they went wide.
"Eddie!"